Sony has made its so-called Small Apps a fixture on devices going all the way back to the Xperia T in 2012. For the unaware, they are floating apps that can provide quick access to things like email, a calculator, timer, and so on. On the Xperia X line of devices, Small Apps are no more.

On older devices, Small Apps were accessible from a favorites bar at the bottom of the multitasking screen. However, that's missing on the Xperia X lineup, and there does not appear to be any way to enable it. A community manager on Sony's mobile forums claims the change was made because, "This is according to the specification, and how Google has defined it." It's not clear what exactly Sony is referring to here.

Small Apps weren't necessarily a bad idea, but they never caught on. There are only a handful of supported third-party apps in the Play Store. It's even less robust than Samsung's Pop-up view. The change will probably go mostly unnoticed, except by Sony fans who used Small Apps heavily. I'm sure there are some.

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Jaromir

Exactly what I was going to type. Small Apps will become redundant, and hopefully entire dynasty of X will get N treatment, and it is highly probable to happen since it is a fairly young lineup with strategic importance to Sony's survival in competitive environment. Well, maybe some people won't be happy to use the split screen instead of floating window for ad-hoc tasks, but maybe the freeform floating windows will actually make their way to the final release (I would leave a specific toggle for that in Developers' Options, a choice for split screen of freeform windows).

jcopernicus

Now if only they could ditch the google bloat.

Suicide_Note

Switch to iOS or Windows phone then.

Branko

It's called Android, not Googleroid. And yeah, since most of Google crap is available on Store, they could make it removable, not to be disabled only.

someone755

The Average Joe wouldn't know he had to install an Email or SMS app on his phone to be able to receive Email or SMS.
It's better to let Google handle these apps as well through the Play Store than to have each manufacturer add confusion, complexity, and bad design to the mix.

Good_Ole_Pinocchio

If they want that they can go and fork their own Version of Android. If they want Google Services and apps on their phones they'll just have to get over it.

Branko

I'm not talking about Google services dumbass. Google apps such as Keep, Calendar, Gmail and Hangouts should be preinstalled but uninstallable. Get it now ?

Also fanboyism is peeking out.

Good_Ole_Pinocchio

This is Google's Android.. OEM want to use their software? You play by their rules by keeping those apps just as Google intended. They have no say, and shouldn't.

Sunny11

Root it. Uninstall those system apps as you wish. Done.

Suicide_Note

Yes, it's Google's Android, so it shouldn't be a surprise that their suite of apps is pre-installed with their OS. That said, no one is forcing you to use those apps. Disable them, download your preferred replacement, and carry on with your day.

I think he'll find that there's more Apple pre installed bloat on ios than Google puts on Android anyway

Steffen Laursen

I use small apps occasionally. Calculator and notes are probably some of the most useful features. The rest I really haven't used.

Zee

Same here, i've actually popped up that calculator many times on my Z3. Quite handy.

someone755

Finally. These things were so annoying, but thankfully you could easily freeze them through ADB if you didn't have root.
If you did (and have, this is still true), there are at least 150 apps you can delete right after first boot, and then another 200-300 MB to clear up from /system. Not to mention Sony's unbelievable icons (which I wouldn't be upset about if they only fixed the spacing -- every icon has different spacing), some of which don't even have the ability to turn black in apps with a white notification bar (like the Google Calendar), and the navigation bar icons that are way too big and unaligned.
Sony are quickly becoming the next HTC -- great hardware and great ideas, destroyed by high pricing and stupid decisions.

BoFiS

Aw, I totally like the little floating calculator since I can have it over whatever I'm working on and not have to jump back and forth...I'm more upset with Sony's lack of a smaller phone since the Z5 Compact, and also their current move to using stupidly curved glass fronts on the phones so glass screen protectors don't work as well and look as bad as they do on iphones with similarly curved glass edges.

I would MUCH rather have raised sides around my screen and a flat glass front!

Rod

Worry not, in Android N you'll be able to split-screen.

Not for you

Upvoted for the comment about the lack of a smaller phone.

Daniel

I'm typing this from my Xperia XZ Premium and know all too well of the curved glass issue. Looks absolutely stupendous, but screen covers become as useful as a snooze button on a fire alarm.

I am not a Sony fan, but I'd miss them too, they can come handy sometimes and are really simple and unobstrusive

ADofCLE

Several dozens lmao

Tornyi Barnabás az isten

That's half of all SONY users.

Martin Nilsson

The best part of the "small Apps" were the feature to turn a widget into a small app. Play Music, Twitter etc, could easily be turned into a floating app. Screen on phones are a bit too small to make it useful but the concept is very neat 😄

Roh_Mish

I use it regularly. The floating calculator specifically gets used the most. It also had the ability to launch widgets as small apps.

soup

I used the calculator all the time, it was very useful. However, the multitasking screen always looked so messy with the small apps at the bottom that I don't really miss them now I'm using the concept software (which doesn't have them)

Gary

Seriously what massive disappointment from Sony. Xperia Z5 even though it wasn't massively popular it was still on track and had some stand out features. Now instead they come up with this Xperia X, that is bound to flop big time. No way one should get this phone because it clearly some sort of Sony experiment.

jaime_arg

This is so fucked up. I used the calculator but mostly the print screen feature which was more complete than the one accessible through the power button. Moreover, since my shitty power button on my shitty Sony phone broke after two years of normal use, I couldn't even access the normal print screen so the small apps screenshot was my only option.
To top it all off, record screen was disabled in the power button menu. Now only screenshots are available.
Fuck you, Sony. Fuck you hard.
You make it so hard to love your products.
The camera also disappointed with all that noise, and manual camera forces you to choose between speed OR iso, can't manually pick both.
Also video recording lost the manual options, now there's an obscure slider, hard to access and to understand.
FUCK ALL OF THIS SHIT, SONY. WHY DO I KEEP BUYING YOUR CRAP?!

Daniel

The title of this article made me laugh. But I gotta say, I'm going to miss those little guys. I was a faithful user since Xperia Z.